<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Blood by CosmicEclipse</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24712723">Blood</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/CosmicEclipse/pseuds/CosmicEclipse'>CosmicEclipse</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>RWBY</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Gen, Hurt/Comfort</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 00:21:44</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,662</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24712723</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/CosmicEclipse/pseuds/CosmicEclipse</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>"That's where our similarities end"</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Blood</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This was a quick one shot I wrote because I was listening to some old CDs and inspiration struck. If you know the song this is titled after, cool you probably have an idea of what you're in for, if not, that's fine. Points to people who can guess the band/album I got inspired from.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Things had turned out alright.</p>
<p>At least, they did this time. Everyone, mostly, was happy. Haven was safe, they had the relic, Weiss had come back a few days ago and now Blake was back. So almost everyone was here. Team RWBY was back together and happy, Ren and Nora had gotten together and were happy, and he was just… There. He certainly wasn’t happy. Especially not after tonight. Sure, things had gone well, but he’d almost gotten Weiss killed. His lack of ability and Cinder’s drive to hurt him more nearly got her killed. The only reason she was alive was because he found his semblance just in time. The bright side was that she didn’t die, but he still felt bad about it. He nearly lost Ruby her partner too. He wouldn’t have been able to deal with that. He could barely deal with the fact it had almost happened.<br/>As they arrived back at their rooms Qrow had busted out the drinks to celebrate. Ozpin was against it, but was convinced they’d more than earned a night to relax. So Qrow, Ozpin, and Oscar were all off too bed an hour after the drinks were opened to give the young adults their freedom and get Oscar to maintain a schedule fit for his age.</p>
<p>Jaune wasn’t tired, but he didn’t feel much like celebrating. He’d gone through a few shots of Whiskey by the time the adults were gone, but he hadn’t been really feeling it. He got up from his spot, and walked back towards his room, saying he’d probably just go to bed since he was tired. He didn’t care they noticed he still had the mostly full bottle of Whiskey in his hands. As he was heading back, he passed the bathroom. He was feeling pretty stressed and decided he’d listen to his mothers advice. “A nice bath will always make you feel better”. Gods he hoped that was true.</p>
<p>After getting the water to a temperature he liked, which would probably boil anyone else, he sat in the bath, played some music on his scroll, and drank. He sat there, taking a swig from the bottle every so often, while he sat back in the hot water and listened to the music. The last thing he wanted  right now was to think about anything. He heard the door open and looked over.</p>
<p>“Oh, well hey there, Vomit boy. I thought you went to bed.”</p>
<p>“Yang. I was going to, but I took some pages from a couple books and decided on a bath.”</p>
<p>“With a bottle of alcohol. Whose books did you use?”</p>
<p>“Qrow’s and my Mom’s. One says alcohol and the other says hot bath. I picked both.”</p>
<p>“And you didn’t lock the door?”</p>
<p>“I’m probably gonna be in here for a while.” He took a swig of Whiskey. “I’d rather not hold you all up from using the bathroom.”</p>
<p>“I don’t think anyone will want to use the bathroom while you’re in here.”</p>
<p>“Fair enough.”</p>
<p>She was silent for a few seconds, shifting from foot to foot.</p>
<p>“I really need to pee though.”</p>
<p>“I’m not getting out of this bath.” Jaune said, closing the curtain. He turned the music up loud enough it was all he could hear in the tub. Eventually the curtain was snatched open and he looked up at the blonde girl eyeing him seriously.</p>
<p>“So what’s your deal? Shouldn’t you be happy?”</p>
<p>“Bout what?” He asked, taking a gulp from his bottle rather than a short sip.</p>
<p>“Everyone is back together!”</p>
<p>“Mostly.”</p>
<p>She winced at that.</p>
<p>“Uh, We stopped Haven from being blown up.”</p>
<p>“Woohoo.” He said dryly, taking another gulp.</p>
<p>“You saved Weiss.”</p>
<p>“My fault she got hurt that bad.”</p>
<p>“No it’s not!”</p>
<p>“Yeah it is.”</p>
<p>“How? How was that your fault?”</p>
<p>“Cinder wanted to hurt me. She took Pyrrha and I reminded her of that and she tried to take Weiss because she wanted to hurt me more.”</p>
<p>“Listen, Vomit—.” She stopped when she saw him twitch. “Listen, Jaune, you can’t blame yourself for stuff like that.”</p>
<p>“I can when it’s my fault.”</p>
<p>“Do you think Pyrrha was your fault too?”</p>
<p>“Yes.”</p>
<p>“How can you say that?!” She said louder than she meant. “She chose to fight Cinder alone! How is that your fault?”</p>
<p>Jaune took a long drink from his bottle.</p>
<p>“It’s three fold, really.” He said calmly. “For one, I’m weak. She didn’t trust me to be with her. She might have made that choice, but if I were stronger she wouldn’t have had to fight alone. Two, I was supposed to be watching for Cinder while Pyrrha was getting the Maiden powers. I stopped paying attention for a second and that was it. Cinder got stronger because I wasn’t on alert. Three, I was the one who convinced her to even take those powers. We talked and I understand now what she meant, but at the time I didn’t. I thought she just needed a pep talk before the tournament so I told her to chase her destiny. Turns out she thought her destiny was magic powers and I was holding her back from going for them.”</p>
<p>“That’s…” Yang didn’t know how to respond to that. “Sitting here feeling sorry for yourself isn’t going to change anything.”</p>
<p>“Maybe. But the sadness isn’t going away anytime soon, and ignoring it only makes it worse. Gotta let myself feel something other than empty sometimes, though.” He took another long drink of his bottle and scoffed. “Emotions. Can’t live with em, can’t live without em.”</p>
<p>“You think you’re the only one going through bad things right now?” Yang asked. She was starting to get tired of his sorry attitude.</p>
<p>“Of course not. But you all have each other. I can talk to Ren and Nora, sure, but they’re together—together now, so I want them to be happy together instead of dealing with my sorry self. You have your team and that’s pretty much it.”</p>
<p>“What makes you think you don’t have us? We’re your friends aren’t we?”</p>
<p>“You consider us friends?”</p>
<p>“I… Why?”</p>
<p>“If anyone asked, I’d say you were, but we barely interacted at school. We knew each other because I was friends with Ruby.”</p>
<p>“Okay, listen, I may not have been fond of you at first,”</p>
<p>“Story of my life.”</p>
<p>“BUT, you grew on me. The way you handle Ruby, your determination to get better, I could honestly say I thought of you as a friend by the time of…”</p>
<p>Jaune sighed. “Alright.”</p>
<p>“That’s it?”</p>
<p>“That’s all I have to say, yeah.”</p>
<p>“Nothing about how you’re gonna get over this and come back more determined than ever? Beat down your demons like the bad ass Huntsman you are?”</p>
<p>Jaune let out a sardonic laugh/scoff and shook his head.</p>
<p>“Blood.”</p>
<p>“What?”</p>
<p>“Blood runs through our veins.” He said, tracing a line up the inside of his left arm. “That’s where our similarities end. You’re all so much better than me in every way. Determined, headstrong, strong in general… You guys really can muster up the courage to deal with anything can’t you? I’m not like that. I’m just some fraud. I’d be dead by now if not for my team. If not for Pyrrha. My parents certainly never believed in me. They didn’t think I’d last the first semester. You know how I deal with problems, Yang? I stop feeling. Just pack away all the hurt until I don’t feel it anymore. This, though… It’s something I can’t stop feeling. I’ve tried, but it keeps coming back. So I’ve just kind of been… moving. I’m basically dead on my feet outside of a fight. I’m so good at acting no one really notices. My parents never learned the difference.”</p>
<p>“You can’t… How…” Several thoughts were going though Yang’s head at the moment. Then, an idea. “I’ll be right back.”</p>
<p>Jaune didn’t bother to respond.</p>
<p>Several moments later she returned, much to his surprise. She had a bottle of alcohol with her and started getting undressed.</p>
<p>“What are you doing?” Jaune asked.</p>
<p>“I’m getting in there with you.”</p>
<p>“What?” He asked incredulously.</p>
<p>“I’m going to sit with you and we’re going to talk.”</p>
<p>“Why?”</p>
<p>“Because I’m your friend and you need someone to talk to.”</p>
<p>As Yang dropped her shorts and bra he raised an eyebrow.</p>
<p>“You’re serious.”</p>
<p>“Very. Now move your leg so I can get in.”</p>
<p>Jaune resigned himself to his fate and moved his leg. Yang sat on the opposite end of the tub facing him.</p>
<p>“Why are you topless?”</p>
<p>“Because titties cheers everyone up! Besides, you’ve got a bunch of sisters right? I don’t have anything you haven’t seen.”</p>
<p>Jaune shook his head but didn’t complain.</p>
<p>“So, talk to me.”</p>
<p>“Talk to you?”</p>
<p>“Yup. I’m here until you fall asleep or you decide you’re done talking. Whichever comes first. So lay it on me.”</p>
<p>Jaune just stared at her, trying to find any hint of insincerity in her face. When he couldn’t find any, he started talking.<br/>————<br/>“Is he okay?” Ruby asked when Yang walked out of the bathroom several hours later.</p>
<p>“Not really.” Yang sighed. Her hair was still wet at the ends, but she could dry it easy before she laid down. “There’s a lot of pain he’s keeping in. Layers of years of repressed emotional problems. Dude should really see a therapist.”</p>
<p>“Is… Is there anything we can do for him?”</p>
<p>“Not really. Just be there for him and convince him he can talk to us.”</p>
<p>“Alright.” Ruby looked down.</p>
<p>“Is Nora sleep yet?”</p>
<p>“No.”</p>
<p>“Good. She’ll have to carry Jaune to bed.” Yang said walking off.</p>
<p>Ruby stood there for a second, thinking about what she’d been told. She cracked the bathroom door open to see Jaune leaning over the side of the tub, asleep. If she could be a better friend, that’s what she’d do. Tomorrow, though. It was late. They could all use the sleep.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I've been neglecting this account for a bit even though it's where I first started posting. I've got another P5 story up on my FF account that I'll be posting here in the next few days. This one is shorter and AO3's formatting can be a pain for me sometimes so it's getting posted first. Anyway, enjoy.</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>